Goldfish
by 2-shadows
Summary: After a poker game with an interesting gamble, Beast Boy and Raven have to have a conversation with much higher stakes.


_**Random Fluff piece I didn't see coming. I was actually rereading one of my favorite stories, eating goldfish, when this struck. **_

_**I don't even own my own car; I certainly don't own the rights to the cartoon with the second largest fancraze (only in the cartoon section does Yoda refer to) on the site. I also don't own the rights to any of the delicious snacks mentioned here.**_

_**I needed to get the desire for happy fluff out of my head before I got back to the angst and concern and much slower romance coming in Unrelenting. Now that this is out of the way, I can get back to that.**_

_**Enjoy!**_

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**Goldfish**

Raven entered the common area, book in hand, and walked straight to the cupboard where her tea was supposed to be stored. She could hear Beast Boy and Cyborg bantering over a poker game.

"I'm putting in 5 Goldfish" Beast Boy said, his recently deeper voice still throwing Raven for a bit of a loop. She shook her head lightly at her surprise and filled her kettle with water.

"I'll match your 5 goldfish and raise you an Oreo," Cyborg returned. Even without her empathic powers, Raven could tell Cyborg was oozing confidence. Beast Boy was going to lose. Raven put her kettle on the stove and lit the burner.

"I'll match your Oreo and raise you 2 mini Snickers " Beast Boy shot back, eyebrows waggling. Raven could tell he seemed pretty excited.

"Snickers…. And a full size Twix" Cyborg said, also seemingly excited. His joy was contagious and Raven sighed a simple contented sigh, both at the ambiance of the room and the soothing aroma of the teabag she pulled out of the box and placed in her mug.

"I'll meet your Twix and raise you a Ho-Ho and a Nutter Butter package." Beast Boy returned, smirking so big Raven thought his head might pop off. The kettle whistled, and Raven quickly poured the water into the mug and rushed over to watch the 2 young men play. She was grateful they hadn't noticed her interest as of yet; the teasing never would have ended. She leaned over the edge of the couch as Cyborg looked intently at his remaining stash of junk food.

"I'll meet you.. and to hell with it. All in?"

"Alright," Beast Boy said, statement suspiciously short of the small talk he typically employed.

"Show 'em?" Cyborg suggested. Even though his back was turned to her, Raven could see his huge smirk in her mind's eye and felt the corner of her mouth lift in mirth.

"Sounds good. Say, Cy, I feel bad for doing this to you," Beast Boy teased, winking up at Raven. Her heart leapt in her chest at that, and she immediately dropped her gaze into her tea, feeling unnecessarily flustered.

She wonder what in the name of Azar that was about.

Fortunately, Cyborg was too wrapped into the game to notice either of his companions. Raven realized, taking a sip of the nearly scalding tea, that she'd never added honey. The game had already captured her interest though, so she decided to forego it, just this once.

"Just show your cards, grass stain." At this, Raven felt herself snicker the tiniest bit. The poker games between Beast Boy and Cyborg were vastly more entertaining as they came up with more and more things to bet, since Robin had forbidden the team to ever gamble money and, shortly after the poker addiction started, added physical labor or chores to the list of forbidden gambles. He'd seen Beast Boy literally throw up from exhaustion and the dishes in the cupboard were cleaned with toothpaste at the hands of Starfire and as a result, what had to be the biggest stash of sugary goods the tower had seen since the party after the defeat of the Brotherhood of Evil was sitting in between the two loudest members of the group- as well as the most cocky poker players.

The boys' cards were laid out on the table and even Raven couldn't hide her shock; both Titans had managed to get a royal flush.

First the silence… Raven winced in anticipation of the next thing coming.

There it was… the screaming.

"You cheated! There's no way you could have the SAME hand as me without cheating!" Beast Boy leapt to his feet, shouting at Cyborg, his post-puberty height giving him direct eye contact with the team's technology expert.

"Nuh uh! You know that ain't right. You cheated, green bean, 'cause I don't NEED to cheat to wipe the floor with your green butt." Cyborg grit his teeth and poked Beast Boy in his chest- what Raven couldn't help but notice was how _defined_ said chest was. She shook her head and paid attention to the altercation.

"I wouldn't know how to cheat if I wanted to!" Beast Boy shrieked, throwing his arms above his head, his voice cracking in such a comical way that Raven couldn't hold back a giggle. Neither of the males even noticed, of course; they were too busy succumbing to testosterone.

Raven took that opportunity to use a small amount of energy and send the pile of snacks to another room, far away from the fighting pair. As she had suspected, not an eyelash was batted; the best friends were too busy yelling to notice the object of desire was missing.

"I know you're smarter than you act!" Cyborg yelled back, his human eye narrowing. He crossed his bulky arms across his equally bulky chest, straightening his spine and standing up.

"Only thing you know is how to eat!" Beast Boy quipped, smirking meanly. He crossed his arms as well, and Raven could have killed herself for noticing the way his muscles rippled below his uniform.

"Oh, I know you don't want me to prove you wrong…" Here, Cyborg's voice was low and quiet for the first time in the argument. Some of the color drained from Beast Boy's face, but his eyes narrowed, the dare evident in his posture.

Suddenly, Raven felt a pit in her stomach and wasn't sure she wanted to be there.

"Really, Cy? What do you know?" The ice in the green young man's voice startled Raven.

For the first time since she'd entered the room, Cyborg turned to Raven. He said nothing to her though, and looked back at Beast Boy, eyebrow raised high. Raven noticed Beast Boy's jaw set and Cyborg's lips tightened, as if he felt mildly remorseful for what he was about to do.

"Raven, did you know Beast Boy had a thing for powerful girls?" Cyborg asked, face turned towards Raven but eyes focused on the stubbornly silent green teenager.

"I don't see how that's any of my business," Raven muttered, taking a long draught of her tea to avoid eye contact with either of the boys in front of her. Cyborg couldn't know, he couldn't possibly know…

"Here's the thing, Rae-" Cyborg started, then shook his head. "Never mind, I can't do this. It ain't right. Look man," here, he directed his words to Beast Boy "You want her to know, you tell her. I'm outta here. You can keep the junk; bad for my system anyways."

He stormed out of the room, heavy metal feet making thuds down the hallway.

The two remaining Titans stood across from each other, one holding a mug of tea like it was her life preserver, the other scratching his neck out of pure inability to form words.

_To hell with it, _Raven thought, frustrated by her recent distractibility. She'd spent so long as team mates and friends with Beast Boy that the notion of being attracted to him felt bizarre, but it hadn't only been today that she'd had to be careful about her thoughts to avoid blowing up any lamps or destroying the microwave. If Cyborg had been getting at what she thought he was getting at, this might actually be worth it.

"Beast Boy…" She began, but paused, her resolve fading quickly.

"Rae, look, I'm sorry if that was awful. He was just being an ass." He responded, backing up to lean against the couch, holding himself up with his fingers wrapped around the couch, the undersides of his forearms facing out. His pose was dejected but the young man still managed to look like a fashion model. Raven saw a flash and heard a strange popping then some twinkling noises as a light bulb above the table exploded and the glass fell to the table.

Raven first stared at the light, praying to the universe or any deity in existence that she wasn't blushing. She looked up to see he'd chamnged his pose. He stood up straight and crossed his arms over his chest-when had his chest gotten that broad?- with a smirk playing across his features. His green eyes twinkled at her, as if he knew.

"Gar?" She started again, wanting, for some inexplicable reason, for him to know her thoughts, understand what she felt… She was done hiding the way her heart raced even now, as she looked at him.

Granted, the empath wasn't all about sharing feelings; rather, Raven was so busy hiding her emotions that she was losing control; this hadn't happened since they watched Wicked Scary all those years ago.

"Yeah, Rae?" He asked, eyes wide and ears perked up to listen. Raven heard the faint noise of shattering and decided if she didn't face the irrational emotions, she would singlehandedly have to replace all of the light bulbs in the entire Tower.

"You're.. I mean.. Shit." The last word was whispered harshly rather than said and Raven took a few deep breaths, closing her eyes as she did so in an attempt to calm down and remind herself that even with half demon anatomy it was physically impossible for her stomach to upside down and her heart in her esophagus.

She opened her eyes only to see the somehow both rugged and soft skin of the boy inches away, his dusky blush right in front of her. The result, unsurprisingly, was more than one lightbulb shattering. The two were soon dusted with glass shards and could see each other thanks to panoramic windows. She was pretty sure _that _had blown a fuse. She was sure she was blushing by now but let her face fall into its normal apathy all the same.

"Oops, sorry. Didn't mean to scare you. Maybe I should go first?" Beast Boy suggested, a wide, fang embellishing smile hiding the apprehension Raven could taste, bitter as rust, on her own tongue. She nodded, hoping he would stop sending those vibes, however unconsciously, before she made a face.

"I don't know how to say this, and I hope you don't kill me, but umm…" He spluttered out, scratching the back of his neck with his elbow high in the nervous manner he had developed. Raven noticed him looking at then away from her eyes more than once, trying to make contact for split seconds at a time, possibly before losing his nerve.

"Yes?" she urged, keeping her tone even but hoping whatever this imbecile had to say would let her off the hook of actually admitting her-ugh-feelings.

"Well, I.." the green young man looked her straight in the face and his jaw set the same way it had when he was arguing with Cy not 5 minutes prior. He grabbed her shoulders, leaned down, and pressed a hot, hard, quick kiss to her lips. Raven felt her hair and cape fly up with the force of surprise (the glass shards also flew off of her and probably the young man kissing her as well) and found that she trying to press the force back- Raven wanted him to feel the heat she felt. - but a millisecond too late. He had already pulled away.

Raven was speechless, in total shock, and could feel her eyes growing even after he took a step back. He looked at her once more, appearing shocked at his blatant course of action as well, and ran out of the room.

She blinked once before her eyes narrowed. Drawing on her memory of her teammates, she picked a phrase more likely to be said by Cyborg than her self but felt like the most appropriate option in this situation.

"Oh, HELL NO."

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_**I was going to add a bit about him asking her on a date (a picnic or movie or something) and her bringing the junk food back, but I like this better. What do you think?**_

_**2-Shadows**_


End file.
